Trees to be planted for Civil War dead will be technologically linked to soldiers' history

By T.W. Burger for Public Opinion

Updated:
11/20/2013 06:47:08 PM EST

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A group stands around newly planted trees during the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership - The Living Legacy Project tree dedication ceremony Tuesday, November 19, 2013 in Gettysburg. Markell DeLoatch - Public Opinion

A group stands around newly planted trees during the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership - The Living Legacy Project tree dedication ceremony Tuesday, November 19, 2013 in Gettysburg. Markell DeLoatch - Public Opinion

GETTYSBURG >> William Harris is only 10 years old, but on Tuesday he helped commemorate more than half a million soldiers who died during the American Civil War.

William and a swarm of other school children were on part of the Pickett's Charge area of the Gettysburg National Military Park for the early stages of The Living Legacy Project, a program of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership.

The ceremony was held on what was once the 60 acre Bliss Farm, where 167 apple trees will be planted to honor soldiers who actually died on that ground on July 2-3, 1863.

William Harris, center, a direct descendent of William and Adeline Bliss, is joined by Cate Megennis Wyatt and Jonathan Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service, during the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership - The Living Legacy Project tree dedication ceremony Tuesday, November 19, 2013 in Gettysburg. Markell DeLoatch - Public Opinion

The Bliss Farm belonged to William's great-great-great grandfather, William Bliss. The family fled the farm on the first day of the battle. Union troops burned the house and barn to prevent Confederate troops from using it for shelter and sniper nests. The family never returned to the land.

William Harris presented National Park Service Director John Jarvis with the family flag during the dedication ceremony, and then helped mark one of the new trees in honor of an unknown soldier killed there during the battle.

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The JTHG's National Heritage Area is a 180-mile long, 75-mile wide area stretching from Gettysburg to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Charlottesville, Va. The area boasts sites important to 400 years of European, American and African-American heritage, including more than 10,000 sites on the National Register of Historic Places, 49 National Historic districts, nine Presidential homes, 13 National Park units, hundreds of African American and Native American heritage sites, 30 Historic Main Street communities, sites from the Revolutionary War, French-Indian War, War of 1812 and the largest collection of Civil War sites in the nation, according to material supplied by the organization.

The idea behind the group's Living Legacy project is to plant a tree for each of those who died fighting the American Civil War.

That number has long been thought to be 620,000 out of a total U.S. population of 30 million, but recent research seems to indicate that the death toll may be as much as 100,000 higher, said Cate Magennis Wyatt, Founder and President of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership.

Wyatt said that in the planning stages of the project, she spoke with the mayors of a number of towns in the commemorative area.

"They said we don't need another flagpole or monument, but they wanted something that will still be there in 50 years when the bicentennial of the battle comes around," she said.

Trees seemed to be the answer, but there is a high-tech angle to the project. Using a technique called geo-tagging, each tree planted will represent a specific soldier. Working with Ancestry.com and Fold3.com, each tree will feature online information about where the soldier was from, in which unit he served, and information about his family. It is a more direct and specific memorial than has ever been seen before, Wyatt said.

Students from New York and Virginia read off the names and basic information of 10 of the soldiers who died on the Bliss Farm during the battle. William Harris and Nelly McCullough, granddaughter of renowned historian David McCullough, marked a tree to honor an unidentified soldier.

William said the family flag he handed to Jarvis had been designed by his grandfather, who fought in Vietnam. He said he has only known about his family's role in the fight at Gettysburg for a couple of years, and had been there only once before.

Standing on bloodstained soil that once belonged to his own ancestor was taking some getting used to.

"It feels very unbelievable," he said.

According to Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership, the group is on its third planting.

"Our pilot-planting was in Loudon County, Virginia, last year, and we held a former planting in Gettysburg back in May," he said. "This one will far exceed the size of those previous plantings."

Lisa and Tom Donelly of Orlando, Florida were one of several couples who came to the event dressed as two 19th century civilians. After visiting Gettysburg for the 150th anniversary of the battle itself over the summer, they decided they had to be there for the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address as well. That even occurred earlier Tuesday, so they decided to take in the Living Legacy ceremony as well.

"I saw Jim Getty perform Abraham Lincoln when I was in sixth grade," said Lisa. "I just fell in love with Lincoln then."

Getty, of Gettysburg, is thought by many to be the dean of Lincoln presenters.

"This has been an incredible event," said Tom Donelly. "It has been an honor to be here."